


Spell it Out

by Scramblesfic



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ferdibert week prompt: spellcasting, Hubert in denial, M/M, Tarot Cards, pre-TS, telling the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25838815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scramblesfic/pseuds/Scramblesfic
Summary: Hubert finds out about the possibilities and mysteries of telling the future.Through a string of luck, Hubert finds his chance to give it a try himself.But the future? It isn't as predictable as Hubert thought. Perhaps he shouldn't have toyed with it after all.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73
Collections: Ferdibert Week 2020





	Spell it Out

This was a moment of ultimate serenity. Midnight at the library.

The dark mage would allow himself one night; one night that is, away from duties to Lady Edelgard. She had already begun to embark on her path in uniting Fódlan and it would not be long from now until she had acquired the throne that was rightfully hers. Well, with a few days of preparation. But her Majesty had insisted that Hubert had needed to relax and that he had begun to look weary. Of course she was met with some resistance considering their very tight schedule but Hubert had to accept her point with enough insistence on her end. After all, during the Professors last seminar, one would assume Hubert and Linhardt were on the same wavelength when it came to effort, but only for a short moment.

Speaking of that lazy layabout, he had actually brought up something interesting the other day, something that kept in the back of Hubert's mind. It would explain his current midnight focus of shuffling through various spellcasting books. Apparently, this was how he was spending his free time, sifting through resources in a dimly lit library. Even he could admit this was a bit predictable of him. While Linhardt had a hand in healing focuses for the battle field, healing magic wasn’t what interested Hubert. Like a schoolyard tale, Lindhardt had described the difficult ability of clairvoyance. Figures one of the times Linhardt attempts casual conversation with him, it’s to poke and prod Hubert about unknown magic to see if he knew more about it. But in truth, Hubert actually had no idea what he was talking about.

When Hubert didn’t quite buy what he was selling, his heavy-eyed and sluggish comrade told him to go look for himself if he didn’t believe him. So Hubert did, and felt rather foolish for the first time in a while when he easily began to find books on the matter.

The books he found we’re clearly a bit biased (no thanks to Seteth’s censorship combing), so he did his best to read between the lines. The first thing he read was that this skill in insight was nearly impossible to learn, as it required years of practice to cement. The book goes in lengthy detail on the dangers of spell casting to seek knowledge hidden in the future -- Hubert couldn’t help feel himself inwardly scoff at these cautionary paragraphs however, as it all began to feel like some religious finger wagging. How much more dangerous can telling the future be as opposed to some day to day dark magic anyway?

However, within an hour of skimming the pages, Hubert found something unusual in one of the tomes. The objects were cleverly hidden in a title named “Beginner Spells and Safe Incantations.” It was a lucky moment really, as it seemed like a book that most sensible spell casters would immediately put back in either stubbornness or over qualification, but Hubert had opened it. And on the inside was a velvet pouch holding what felt like a deck of cards and behind that a smaller book containing a symbol Hubert did not recognize.

Upon the discovery, it didn’t take long for Hubert to see their value and pocket both items. It just wasn’t in the cards for anyone else who happened upon this now empty “Spells for Beginners” tome. Hubert softly chuckled to himself at the thought.

_______________________

Back in his room, the soft gentle midnight breezes rolled in from his window, causing his candle light to fight and dance in the wind on his desk. He raised his hand when it went out on his own, flicking a purple flame onto his fingers to relight. The purple flame faded to a red one as it burned back onto the wick.

Now, where was he?

As yes, the beginning steps for clairvoyance.

It seemed like an odd thing for Hubert to suddenly want to pick up. It wasn’t his usually destructive work, but it could provide plenty useful for his emperor. To think; if one was able to pick up on the future, they would also be able to pick up on various happenings in let’s say… A war. In this case, one could also formulate tactics with this powerful ability that would entirely blow the opponent away not even giving them a sliver of a chance. It was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up, even if it may put Hubert himself in harm's way. Scrying was powerful magic, but Hubert didn’t really give a damn. If this would make Lady Edelgard’s path easier at the end of the day, he would continue to focus on it at such an angle.

The first chapter touches upon the importance of “The Cards,” which was consistently capitalized as so. Why should some silly old cards be able to tell the future when conjuring visions in your own mind seemed much more useful? But upon further speculation, it would seem that the cards provided not only a practice tool for clairvoyant aspirations, but also a more casual way to predict the future as it didn’t draw out too much energy from the body and mind of the spellcaster.

So be it then. He pulled the deck out and flipped through the chapters of this strange little booklet before it provided the individual card's meanings.

It seemed simple enough. He could do a spread, but one could also simply flip cards one by one to not only get a feel for the deck but also begin to understand its purpose. He felt the smallest flutter in his stomach reaching for his first card, which he found quite aggravating. Why was he nervous about something that was, one, likely not to work and, two, a child's play version of what he seeked to actually pull off?

Nonetheless he pulled his first card, flipping it and facing it head on. The Sun.

Strange. He could have sworn the image of a blue clad brunette changed colors to expose a crimson dressed man in a cravat with bright fiery long hair.

This gave Hubert a very, very odd feeling indeed. He quickly pulled the next card in haste.

Lovers.

Hubert seethed at the image. What the hell? What did the Lovers card have to do with Lady Edelgard’s bright image of the future?

Annoyed now, Hubert began to look into the meanings of his first two cards, which seemed pretty straight forward. These two major arcana cards indicated big happenings in Hubert’s life specifically, so perhaps he should have considered addressing this deck another way. For the sun, words sprung up such as positivity, warmth -- as for Lovers, love and harmony -- was this indicating that Hubert would be imprudently concerning himself with matters of romance instead of actual important endeavors for her majesty?

Afraid of the answer already, Hubert quickly flipped another card and groaned a bit. Death.

So what? He would fall in love like a bumbling idiot with some unknown stranger and then die? Flipping quickly through pages, he found that this (yet again) other major arcana indicated something much less severe, albeit still concerning. It was a card of transformation, as in, a card of the death of old ways to make way for the new.

Hubert wasn’t sure why, but he could feel sweat beading onto his forehead. He couldn’t possibly believe this trashy drivel, could he? And yet, here he was, thickly swallowing as he pulled yet another card.

Ten of Cups.

His first minor arcana, but followed a similar pattern to the others. This was a card made for blissful relationships. A bounty of love and indulgence of the heart. Hubert thought he was going to be sick for a moment.

Where… Did he hear something about ten cups recently?

He scraped his mind, shutting the book with a slap as it dawned on him, eyes wide in horrid realization as the memory hit him like a vision in itself.

_“Oh no this simply will not do!”_ he remembered Ferdinand fretting in the dining hall just this morning when he received a package graciously delivered by one of the knights, _“how in the world does one send a shipment of tea cups that is ten cups short? Who in the world only has_ ten _guests?”_ He remembered him especially huffing like a petulant child who didn’t get the birthday present they wanted.

The words rang in Hubert’s brain the moment Ferdinand had straightened himself out and asked the knight with a smile, _“would you mind sending them a message to send us ten more cups? A fellow classmate accidentally broke one of our boxes and we are in desperate need of them. Oh, and tell them I like the ones with the sunny motifs, if it is not too much trouble of course!”_

Oh dear. Oh flames. What was the meaning of this?

Hubert swept the cards into a messy pile and shoved them and the book into his desk drawer. Maybe that was just about enough clairvoyance for one lifetime.

He climbed into bed, his thoughts swirling in a whirlpool of aggravation and confusion. He chose to try and steer his thoughts away, eyebrows furrowed and occasionally biting at his thumbnail in distress as if the air was too thick and hot to allow even the illusion of a comfortable sleep. And through this tossing and turning he hadn’t even noticed that he missed a card, considering he had messily shoved them away as if they carried a grotesque aura not even he couldn’t handle.

That one card sat on his desk, ready to taunt him in the morning.

The Fool.


End file.
